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I agree with Sallymay - we have a shocking record in preseason games. Craig’s record shows that he times us beautifully to peak in round 1.

It will be very interesting to see the makeup of the outside backs in the next trial game. I had figured Warbrick and Coates on the wings, Meaney as one centre and Smith/Seve the other. However those latter two did themselves no favours tonight. So Howarth ? Warbrick to centre and Sua to wing? Intriguing !

By far the most significant aspect of tonight was the form and pace of Paps. A great relief for him and for all of us.

The trial vs Newcastle next week in Fiji will be interesting, I’m expecting our best 17 with maybe 4 or 5 added to an extended bench, after tonight I’d expect to see something like:

1. Papenhuyzen
2. Warbrick
3. Meaney
4. Howarth
5. Coates
6. Munster
7. Hughes
8. Kamikamika
9. Grant (c)
10. Asofa-Solomona
11. Katoa
12. Blore
13. King

14. Fa’alogo
15. Welch
16. MacDonald
17. Garlick

18. Moeroa
19. Wishart
20. Chan
21. Vaalepu
22. Smith

I’d like to see Katoa get some more time or up graded contract at least …

Unfortunately, I was out last night and did not see the game.

Good to hear that Lazarus went well. I am a big fan of what I have seen from him in the Qld Cup.

Sounds like our discipline, and our centres are a real concern.

Sallymay you mention an upgraded contract for Katoa. Do we have any spots in our 30 man squad available? I suppose for Katoa it would be an upgrade to a development contract in any case.

I think we have 1 spot left so might get a development spot

The all stars game

Jack howarth playing really well …scored a try but was double movement

Hughes walked off out the back of play in that 3rd quarter, hopefully no injury

* Nevermind he is back out there for the 4th quarter

Unlimited interchange

Kinda annoying

He looks ok though

Yeah he has looked quite sharp tonight, good for us hopefully he can find that old form this season when he is on we are a much better side.

Is Howarth made of granite? Thats 2 players that have hurt their shoulders tonight trying to put a hit on him now, first Staggs & now Trindall just went off.

That’s why he got hurt so much cause he uses that shoulder too much

Team
Vs Knights

1. Ryan Papenhuyzen 2. William Warbrick 3. Reimis Smith 4. Nick Meaney 5. Xavier Coates 6. Jonah Pezet 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. Tui Kamikamica 9. Harry Grant 10. Josh King 11. Kane Bradley 12. Eliesa Katoa 13. Trent Loiero 14. Christian Welch 15. Joe Chan 16. Tristan Powell 17. Tyran Wishart 18. Keagan Russell-Smith 19. Dean Ieremia 20. Shawn Blore 21. Bronson Garlick 22. Young Tonumaipea 23. Lazarus Vaalepu 24. Jack Howarth

Interesting line up, key points:

- Munster, Asofa-Solomona and Fa’alogo all missing, not sure if rested or injured but it’s interesting that these guys will go into round 1 with no games under their belt

- Bradley starting in the back row ahead of Chan, Blore and Howarth, interesting.

- Loiero shifting to lock and King back to the front row, I think Trent will be more effective in the middle.

- Meaney has one of the centre spots wrapped up it seems

- Jonah is starting at 6, I think he is impressing CB lately, seems to be getting plenty of chances, he will be a quality player as he develops, I like seeing him get more game time.

Apparently Munster has a tight calf so resting him for RD 1

Alec Grant NAS and Sua also (assuming) injured (they were all were in red shirts in last weeks photos)

They went to NZ for the week though

Shame Alec is injured because they should be trying to develop him into a modern lock instead of shoehorning Loiero there because he can't play on the edge.

Not sure who’s watching but the Storm are up
12-0.

A lot of the starters were pulled just before the 20-minute mark and the replacements put on a really nice try to Coates soon afterwards.

Few observations:

- Hughes and Katoa combined for a beauty. That combination looked good late last season and could be deadly again.

- Although we’ve only seen a bit of it, the kicking seems to be a lot better. Hughes is getting a bit more air and the guys are kicking a little earlier in the tackle count.

- Meaney lost Ponga in a tackle but overall that side defended pretty well to start given the amount of defence they had to do.

Bellza said they were gonna play a lot more minutes but once they got to Fiji realised that the heat would restrict players times